Biography

There are bands which are badly missed once they disappear from the scene. One of those examples are Swedish melodic metal masters NOCTURNAL RITES who released their latest album ‘The 8th Sin’ in 2007 and afterwards slowly slipped into a hiatus kind of situation. The announcement of new NOCTURNAL RITES music was embraced by fans worldwide, and the first single “Before We Waste Away” (released in late June) was received with huge praise and excitement.

‘Phoenix’, the band’s new album, comes with all NOCTURNAL RITES trademarks; from the characteristic voice of vocalist Jonny Lindkvist to the typical NOCTURNAL RITES harmonies and melodies – it’s all there, and possibly even better than ever before!

“Looking back and realizing that ten years have passed since we last released an album is kind of mind-boggling. We never planned for this hiatus, time just sort of flew. Luckily, we never stopped writing songs and we always knew we’d finish this album. I think the final injection was when Per Nilsson joined the band. He truly is an exceptional guitarist and brought the element we missed since Chris left the band to join Sabaton in 2012”, bassist Nils Eriksson Lidman explains.

“This time around, we had no deadline. We really took the time to work through each song and make sure we had a mix of material that made up a diverse collection of tracks. “I think ‘Phoenix’ somehow combines the aggressive approach of ‘Afterlife’ with the very melodic stuff of ‘The 8th Sin’ and at the same adds a few new, more orchestral and epic elements to the mix”. I speak for the whole band when I say that we couldn’t be happier about the fact that we allowed ourselves to take all the time we needed to finish this album. We couldn’t be happier with how it turned out”.

It was time and effort well invested though, because the final result is more than convincing and right away ranks among the best releases in NOCTURNAL RITES’ history – a long and eventful career which started with the band’s foundation in the early ’90s, saw them release their debut ‘In A Time Of Blood And Fire’ in 1995 and has generated nine studio albums (including ‘Phoenix’) now. Since vocalist Jonny Lindkvist joined the band for the 2000 release ‘Afterlife’, the band had found its identity and really became a household name in metal circles. With albums such as ‘Shadowland’, ‘New World Messiah’ and ‘Grand Illusion’, the band further built an excellent reputation and ever-growing worldwide fan base before the release of ‘The 8th Sin’ unfortunately marked the band’s latest piece of work for a full decade.

So September 29th can’t come quickly enough. Prepare for a forceful return! The “Phoenix” will rise from the ashes. The band states: “We can’t wait to share this new album with everyone. It’s been long overdue. Needless to say, it feels great to finally be back."